CalhounSq said:

.. thats funny!


but seriously, he too. Man he looked like a little boy being confronted by his mother. Like he was busted, and wanted to cry.

TheCatWoman said:

Yea, it's pretty sad. Plus Oprah's hair looks like Michael fucking Jackson today, this show is disturbing all around

CalhounSq said:

.. dayam, thats funny .. MJ

Anx said:

We can't have you being actually smart about it. Dumb down, please. Oprah for president, remember?

Anyone have a full video?

missmad said:

You can order a tape or transcript of it. I saw the show and it was something else. This whole controversy has made me interested in getting the book, lies, embellishment or whatever.

Stymie said:

it was marketed as a "memoir" though,which is supposed to mean that it was truthful James Frey is a phoney.

CalhounSq said:

I was thinking the same thing,lol.I don't know who's copying who,but both of them seem to be wearing the exact same hairstyle these days

purplecam said:

this could have been the point for the big "blow up" on the show....

DavidEye said:

you're right. he's a writer. all writers are phoneys.

purplecam said:

And thats exactly why he went on the show to get humiliated. Any publicity is good publicity.

I dont blame Oprah,she promoted this book,put her name on it,defended his lying ass. Pfft!
I'd call him out to.

ThreadCula said:

you know, this book has been out for a few years. why does it take oprah's book club to suddenly scrutinize and "de-bunk" his work?

Anx said:

I dont know...I remember when it came out. Didnt want to read it then,dont want to now. I was just fascinated by the cover (what a waste of cupcake sprinkles)
But Oprah promotes her book club selections well. Once that little Oprah book club sticker goes on a book,people take notice.
Her next book is "Night" I read that in highschool. People are gonna act like it just came out. And it's a shame people are staring to speculate if "Night" is the complete truth.
It's gonna be like that from now on.

ThreadCula said:

i was kinda disappointed when i saw 'a million little pieces' selected for oprah's book club, and i wondered how midwestern hausfraus were going to wrap their minds around frey's style of writing and his subject matter. not that it's the most heady, intellectual stuff in the world, but it ain't "reclaiming your inner joy with dr. phil" either.

Stymie said:

I don't think so...I think if anything she's making it an issue when it seemed to have died down. I wasn't 100% sure what was said on Larry King but who cares...the controversy seemed to have died down. Then she brought it up again...maybe there was a backlash from her fans. She really fucking grilled him like a school marm! Not a huge Oprah fan, but I understand her point...It was issued as a totally true story....If it wasn't, make it a fictional novel. Truman Capote, this man is not (obviously I just saw "Capote").

VinnyM27 said:

Hey Vinnie.

Regardless of whether there was a backlash from fans doesn't matter. Either she felt betrayed or not. I still think when people opinion came out, she saw she would lose credibility so she jumped on the betrayal thing.

This actually makes me want to read the book.

CalhounSq said:

DavidEye said

Watched the whole thing finally... Frey said flat out that this is not a novel -it is a memoir. But boy, Oprah really reemed Frey a new one.

I guess it isn't a practice in the publishing world to fact-check a memoir because it's the author's experience based on his/her memory and "truth" as they know it to be. In that sense, I assume it will always be embellished or stylized to an extent. I think it was the topic(s) of addiction and recovery that hit a sore spot here... and I wonder if people would have been as impressed or compelled to read the book at all if they knew up front that the dentist scene or the jail time or how/when the girl committed suicide was that largely exaggerated?

It'll be interesting to see if Oprah's mighty scolding will slow sales of the book or increase them.

And yeah, what's up with Oprah's MJ hair?

O-hair edit
[Edited 1/27/06 10:09am]

I happened to catch the first episode when she had him on and then I saw this last night. Damn, was she pissed!!
I haven't read the book but the whole thing made me think of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, which I read in a seminar about oral testimony & history. O'Brien's book is about his time in Vietnam and I think he says it's true--it's a memoir type of deal...but obviously when you read it, parts of it are simply fantasical. Does that mean he wasn't in Vietnam? Or that he didn't have the emotions he says? No. I think this Frey thing should be treated the same way. Who fuckin cares if he was in jail for 3 hours or 3 days? Maybe to him it did feel like 3 months.... And yes, for Lily's family, the differenciation between the fact that she slit her wrist rather than hung herself might be important, but for the book, the bigger point is probably the act of suicide itself.

Oprah needs to get over it. Do you think she'll grill Elie Weisel or Primo Levi (if he were alive) about whether their memoirs about their time in the Nazi concentration camps were the absolute truth or just the truth as they remember it? No way...because the Holocaust is untouchable.

Human memory is faulty...If she ever writes a memoir, every single memory and detail better be 100% accurate after the fit she threw over this.

I read the book, loved it, addiction hits very close to home for me and I tried to get most of my family to read it...now I feel like an ass because they were all giving me shit. I say to them...'But did'nt it make you feel hopeful anyway?'

A story is a story but I can understand why Ms. O was pissed...I recorded and watched the September episode and he did made it seem like it was ALL TRUE. I feel kind of bad for Frey even though he did lie, I'm worried he will go back to his old habits....say what you will about the facts in the book...no one denies that he is an addict. I think he mentioned on a commercial break that he wanted a gun backstage waiting for him...that's not cool. Then again he brought this on by his own self. I really connected to his book (I still love it as part-fiction) but I do feel a bit betrayed...kinda like a friend who pissed you off so much you can't look at them the same way.

But I did learn one thing....

Dont lie to Oprah...SHE WILL GRILL YA ASS!!!!!

PEACE
[Edited 1/27/06 10:31am]

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

Yeah Britney Spears wont be on the show anytime soon

Britney:"Yes I want to wait till I'm married"
Britney:Yes I did hear those rumors. I was still in bed,I rolled over and to tell Justin...
Oprah: Wait... where was Justin?

Britney:*Laughing hysterically..."I rolled over and called him on the phone"

Squirrrrel please!

CalhounSq said:

Michael has never had hair that good!

ThreadCula said:

jone70 said:

Excellent post. I think the O'Brien example is a good one, although he never presents it as truth. His main character in the wonderful story of that name is Jimmy Cross. But it's a good example because it shows the purpose of the memoir: to mull recollections over; in O'Brien's case to enable healing of a mind damaged by trauma.

And while I don't agree with the view that literature is akin to therapy, there is certainly a transformative power to retelling a story that you have thought over in your own head a million times.

There comes a time when you want it out there, and I think that people who have made that effort should be admired, not taken to task like some bookkeeper by Oprah.

2the9s said:

I was kind of put off by her acting so disgusted when Frey was copping to the frabrications. I also like the comparison to O'Brien - I'm surprised more journalists haven't brought that up in their coverage of the story. You'd think Frey did a faux piece in the New Republic ala Stephen Glass the way it's being covered. And the irony is we have evolved into a society who feeds off of sensationalism - especialy when it's touted as "reality" - TV shows - Internet profiles - books - and all kinds of assorted media. And Oprah herself knows just how to present and edit her own show's content in order to produce a desired emotional reaction. Does this mean the general content of her material isn't true?

my

$ edit
[Edited 1/27/06 15:47pm]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

TRUE!!! Mike wishes he had her hairdresser!!!

Here's a great article on all this by the brilliant John Dolan!

http://www.exile.ru/2006-..._fall.html



[Plus, go to the eXile home page and read the War Nerd. Everyone should always be reading the war nerd... ]

I bet it will only help her ratings.

Anx said

you're right. he's a writer. all writers are phoneys. [/quote]


no I am not! No WE are not!!!
[Edited 1/29/06 0:06am]